As it is known, a mobile telephone network provides mobile services (calls, conference calls, text message delivery, images delivery, IP data connections, etc.) to users provided with mobile phones, i.e. phones having a mobile interface. Examples of mobile telephone networks are the Global System for Mobile Communication (briefly, GSM) and the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (briefly, UMTS).
Typically, a mobile interface of a mobile phone may be associated to an identifier (which is termed “mobile user identifier”), i.e. to a code univocally identifying the user making use of that mobile phone. For instance, in case of GSM, the mobile user identifier may be either the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (briefly, IMSI) of the user, or the Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (briefly, MSISDN) of the user. The mobile user identifier is typically stored in a detachable memory device, which is detachably coupled to the mobile phone. For instance, in case of mobile phones of the GSM type, such a detachable memory device is termed Subscriber Identity Module (briefly, SIM card). Typically, the detachable memory device allows to retrieve other information concerning the user's profile, such as: a list of mobile telephone services subscribed by the user, the available credit, the type of contract, at least a part of the user's contacts, etc. This advantageously allows to user, inter alia, to replace his mobile phone with a new mobile phone while preserving its profile, by simply extracting the detachable memory device from the mobile phone and inserting it in the new one.
Nowadays, mobile phones often include, in addition to the above mentioned mobile interface, a radio interface based on a radio technology which is different from the mobile technology upon which the mobile interface is based. Such a radio interface allows a mobile phone to communicate with other devices (such as other mobile phones, computers, laptop, PDAs, residential gateways, etc.) provided with radio interfaces based on the same radio technology. Examples of these radio interfaces are the known Bluetooth interfaces and the known Wi-Fi interfaces.
Differently from mobile communications, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi communications do not include signal repetition mechanisms. Accordingly, the maximum distance between devices wishing to communicate through their Bluetooth or Wi-Fi interfaces ranges from few meters up to about one hundred meters, according to the signal power level. Further, differently from mobile communications, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi communication typically uses unlicensed bandwidths, i.e. bandwidths which can be freely used. In particular, in case of Bluetooth interfaces, such unlicensed bandwidth is located at 2.45 GHz. In the following description and in the claims, the expression “radio technology different from the mobile technology” will therefore indicate a radio technology allowing short-range communications and/or not making use of any signal repetition mechanism.
Similarly to the mobile interface which is identified by a mobile user identifier, also a radio interface is univocally identified by a radio identifier. In case of Bluetooth interfaces, such a radio identifier corresponds to a MAC address. In the following description and in the claims, the expression “radio identifier” will indicate an identifier identifying, in a mobile phone comprising both a mobile interface and a radio interface based on a radio technology different from the mobile technology upon which the mobile interface is based, the radio interface.
Typically, there is no association between a mobile user identifier of a mobile phone and the radio identifier(s) (such as the Bluetooth identifier) of such a mobile phone. In other words, a mobile service provider typically ignores the radio identifier(s) of its users' mobile phones, since the radio interfaces of mobile phones are not involved in mobile services. On the other hand, a device communicating with a radio interface of a mobile phone typically ignores the mobile user identifier of that mobile phone, since such a radio communication does not require any interaction with the mobile interface. Therefore, a mobile phone including both a mobile interface and a radio interface generally has two independent identities: a “mobile” identity which is known by the mobile telephone network and a “radio” identity which may be known by other devices having a radio interface based on the same radio technology.
In the art, methods are known allowing to associate the mobile user identifier and the radio identifier of a given mobile phone including both a mobile interface and a radio interface. These methods advantageously allow a mobile service provider to provide its users with additional mobile services which exploit not only resources of the mobile telephone network but also devices provided with radio interfaces capable of communicating with the mobile phones of its users. Examples of these additional mobile services will be described in detail herein after.
In the following description, reference will be made to a situation wherein one mobile user identifier is associated to one mobile phone at a time, and therefore to one radio identifier. However, the following description applies also to a situation wherein one mobile user identifier is associated to more than one (typically two) mobile phones. For instance, a user of a GSM network may be provided with a pair of “twin” SIM cards, i.e. two SIM cards storing the same mobile user identifier, the same profile, and so on. The two (or more) SIM cards may be coupled to different mobile phones. If each mobile phone has its own radio interface, each radio interface being identified by a different radio identifier, then the mobile user identifier will be associated to all these radio identifiers.
US application 20050076124 discloses a method for anonymous identification of the profiles of subscribers in a communication system. Each module of a subscriber is allocated an ID number. The so-called Bluetooth device address, which is supported by the Bluetooth Standard, is automatically used as the ID number, and uniquely identifies every Bluetooth module throughout the world. Once the systems have first been switched on, the modules transmit their ID numbers via the cellular communication appliances to the intermediate provider. The provider then sets up a unique association between the ID number of the module and the address (telephone number) of the cellular communication appliance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,160 discloses an apparatus, and an associated method, facilitating authentication of at least a portion of a Bluetooth-based, or other, communication system by a mobile terminal. When the mobile terminal is to be operated pursuant to the Bluetooth communication system, the identifier stored at the storage device is retrieved and thereafter used during authentication procedures by which the mobile terminal authenticates the personal base unit of the Bluetooth communication system. In an implementation in which the cellular communication system forms a GSM communication system which provides for SMS (Short Message Service) messaging, the indicator, such as the PIN code, is formatted into a SMS message and the SMS message is sent to the network infrastructure of the cellular communication system, routed to a SMS service centre.